Houston, Rice winners; Alabama loser; College Football Week 9

Winners: Houston, 6-1, and Rice, 6-2, each earned bowl eligibility with victories Saturday. It is only the third time both have been bowl eligible in the same season. Houston’s victory was impressive, coming at Rutgers. The Cougars were mentioned among other receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches Poll. In USA Today’s own rankings, Houston is 33rd this week. Rice, which, as expected, easily beat UTEP, is 47th in those rankings, up 12 places from last week.

Loser: Who runs the University of Alabama anyway? Oh yeah, Nick Saban. That was never more clear than last week when he complained that many students often come to games late and leave early. He said everyone on campus should have the same commitment as the players. Well, no, Nick. Not everyone on campus is on a football scholarship. And while the game might be life and death to you, it’s entertainment for the students. They should be able to come and go as they wish. The university agreed with Saban. The block seating privileges of 20 student organizations were suspended for last Saturday’s game against Tennessee. The Tide won, 45-10. Who wouldn’t want to stick around for the end of that one?

Winner: BCS. The computers and humans, unlike last week when the rankings for this season were first announced, were in alignment, agreeing on the top four of Alabama, Oregon, Florida State and Ohio State. It got tricky at No. 5, where some of the computers don’t take Baylor as seriously as do the humans. Stanford is No. 5 overall, while Baylor is No. 6. The AP poll, which isn’t part of the BCS, has Baylor at No. 5. Still not sure why AP voters have Arizona State at No. 25 and Notre Dame unranked considering the Irish won the game between the two.

Loser: Kliff Kingsbury. Not really. It’s just that it’s not often he gets to be called a loser. In the last three seasons, when he was offensive coordinator at Houston in 2011, offensive coordinator at Texas A&M in 2012 and now head coach at Texas Tech, his teams have lost only four games. The most recent was Saturday’s 38-30 loss to Oklahoma.

Winner: Maybe Oliver Luck. Reports are that the West Virginia athletic director and former Houstonian will take over that same role at Texas. It was assumed as recently as three weeks ago his first order of business would be to fire Mack Brown. But the Longhorns appeared to have turned around their season, primarily because of their defense, and Luck would be able to concentrate on basketball coach Rick Barnes’ future.

Winner or Loser? Many, including Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, have criticized the SEC because it is so top heavy. That doesn’t appear to be the case this season. Conference teams continue to eat their own. After South Carolina’s victory over Missouri last Saturday, Alabama is the SEC’s only unbeaten team. So it’s a deeper conference than some believe. But, if the Tide gets upset, the SEC might not have a representative in the BCS title game.

Winner: Baylor. The Bears haven’t impressed some of those computers because of a weak schedule so far. Their opponents through seven games are a combined 9-20. But the computers will have to take note if the Bears continue to roll. The combined records of their upcoming opponents is 28-10.